5 keys as Central Magnet, Cannon County split 8-AA pair
WOODBURY – Central Magnet and host Cannon County split a pair of District 8-AA contests Friday evening.
In the girls contest, Cannon County (8-11, 2-4) used a strong second-half effort to defeat Central Magnet (7-10, 0-6) 49-34 Friday.
In the boys game Central Magnet (9-9, 3-3) defeated Cannon County (3-15, 0-6) 52-39.
Here are five keys to the league matches:
Torrid shooting for Lionettes
In the first half Cannon County ran its inside-out offense to near perfection. The Lionettes drove to the basket for layups or drove and kicked it to other players for wide-open high-percentage shots.
It worked. Cannon County connected on a blistering 14-of-20 baskets in the first half, 60 percent, including 2-of-4 from 3-point range.
Freshman wing player Taylor Meeks was 4-of-5 from the field and scored nine in the first half. Junior post player Maleah Scott was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field in the first half, with eight points, 16 for the game to lead all scorers.
“Offensively we’ve been stressing in practice the inside-out game,” said Cannon County coach Jonathan Odom. “We got some penetration and made things happen.”
The Lionettes cooled down a little in the second half but still wound up 22-of-39 for the game, 56 percent.
Lionettes get defensive in second half
Central Magnet managed only three field goals in the second half, making 3-of-19 from the field.
Open shots were few and far between for the Lady Tigers. Cannon County’s defenders were there to contest most of the Lady Tigers’ shots in the half.
“That’s something that we really pride ourselves on,” said Odom. “The girls really played good defense the whole game, but especially in the third and fourth quarters. They really disrupted what Central wanted to do. That generated some offense for us.”
“Cannon County beat us to every 50-50 ball,” said Central Magnet coach Kyle Turnham. “They played outstanding basketball. At the end of the day, we couldn’t muster enough baskets and enough stops to make a run.”
Youth movement
Cannon County has a very young team. The Lionettes have started three freshmen (Kristen Fann, Anna Grace Sissom and Jessie Kauffman) most of its games this season, including Friday’s game.
Meeks, a freshman, also plays a lot and sophomore Tori Knox is the starting point guard.
Third-quarter run for Tigers
The Tigers led by four early in the third quarter, 28-24, but had an 11-0 run to take control of the game.
Cannon County was never able to get the game back to single digits after that.
Balanced scoring attack
Central had nine different players score in the game. Patrick Blair led the Tigers with 12. Cole Yoders had nine.
